by DEEPA RAMUDAMU
A third revolution is taking place in Iran — the women’s revolution, said Farzaneh Milani, professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian language and cultures at the University of Virginia.
While men have traditionally been in charge of the public arena and women of the private sphere, Milani said this is changing due to efforts of Iranian women writers and the men who support them.
“When you liberate women in your society, you also liberate men,” she said.
But how? Through the literature women are already creating, Milani said. “Words can be more destructive than bombs,” she explained. Their power can be an equal force for progress.
Milani emphasized the contributions of Iranian women writers and discussed sexism against women during her March 25 Baha’i Chair for World Peace lecture, “Iranian Women Writers: A Moderating and Modernizing Force,” at the University of Maryland.
Milani read poetry during her lecture, sometimes in Persian, and expanded on the feminist ideas the verses often touched on, like how women’s limited mobility has been celebrated around the world.
“Imagine a fear of women’s mobility that goes beyond one culture, one nationality, one religion,” she said.
Barbie dolls might be considered the epitome of beauty in the West, Milani said, but they have small feet which would be unable to support their bodies if they were real.
“We felt it was very important to discuss women writers in Iran, since this is a revolutionary accomplishment,” said Benay Walker, Baha’i Chair intern. “Dr. Milani was chosen by the Chair for her exemplary work and interest to provide discourse to the university.”
Milani, who teaches Persian literature and women’s studies, is a celebrated poet, author and translator. Her books and publications, including “Words Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement” and “Veils and Words: the Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writer,” have won several accolades.
University of Maryland freshmen Ashli Taylor and Sagen Kidane said they were stirred by Milani’s assertion that a country cannot have democracy without first having it in the home.
“I feel like I’ll remember that forever,” Kidane, a criminology and criminal justice student, said.
“It really struck me as something that we all need to push toward and to start integrating into our everyday lives,” government and politics major Taylor said.
The event was part of the Baha’i Chair for World Peace’s series on empowerment of women and peace. The last lecture in the series for this semester will take place April 2.
Novelist Bahiyyih Nakhjavani will present “Persian Women and Other Lies: Story-telling as Historical Retrieval,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday in room 1101 of UMD’s Biosciences Research Building.
The Baha’i Chair is “an endowed academic program that advances interdisciplinary examination and discourse on global peace,” according to Walker. “The Chair examines the challenges and barriers to creating a peaceful society.”
Deepa Ramudamu is a contributor to Plex.
